Refuge in Music

“A sensitively made documentary.” – BBC Music Magazine

Refuge in Music tells the story of two extraordinary musicians, classical pianist Alice Herz-Sommer and jazz musician Coco Schumann who survived the Theresienstadt concentration camp and whose performances there brought comfort and hope to many.

A film that documents human strength and the ability to create beauty even under the most extreme conditions, Refuge in Music is more broadly a tribute to the Jewish composers who died before the war’s end at the notorious Nazi concentration camp Terezín/Theresienstadt during World War II. Featuring performances by the Swedish mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter and the British violinist Daniel Hope, they introduce us to the music written by composers such as Ilse Weber, Karel Schwenk, Robert Dauber, Viktor Ullmann and Pavel Haas who lost their lives but provided music as a source of comfort at one of the darkest places in human history.

*Screening with Sammy